Last year, when GateHouse Media sued Boston.com for linking to GateHouse stories and posting the headlines and lead sentences, it looked as if the courts might shed some new light on fair use in the Internet age. But the companies settled their differences before the case ever got far enough for a ruling on the key issue. Now, however, the same issue appears to be at the heart of a brewing dispute in Connecticut, where the Journal Inquirer newspaper has just published an article accusing the Hartford Courant of "misappropriating" news stories from a host of other state newspapers.

Do the Italian authorities have it in for Google? First, there's the ongoing criminal case against four executives stemming from a YouTube video. Now, in what looks like a new showing of anti-Google sentiment, the country's antitrust regulators are targeting the search company for allegedly taking aim at newspapers that opt out of Google News by excluding them from the main search results.

In response to concerns by Canada's privacy commissioner, Facebook said today that it will roll out some new privacy features. But, despite some sweeping language about empowering users, the changes overall appear fairly minor.

The Southeastern Conference has backed off -- somewhat -- from its absurd attempt to ban fans from posting Web updates about games in progress. But the SEC still goes way too far in attempting to limit the ability of audience members -- professional reporters as well as citizen journalists -- from posting news about games on the Web.

The Federal Communications Commission has been tasked with crafting a national broadband strategy and presenting it to Congress by February. And that's not a moment too soon -- at least judging by the current state of broadband in the U.S. Today, a new report by SpeedMatters, a project of the Communications Workers of America, confirms that the U.S. lags way behind some other countries when it comes to high-speed Web access.

AT&T and Apple have given critics some ammunition certain to be used against them Thursday at an FCC hearing about wireless competition. The two companies have confirmed to the FCC that they agreed to limit apps that make VoIP calls on the iPhone

For three years, Chris Schoenfeld has published the blog StationStops, devoted to news and complaints about commuting on Metro North -- the lines for people who travel from New York City to upstate and Connecticut. Schoenfeld also posts Metro North train schedules on his blog and recently started selling aniPhone app with schedule information for $2.99. One would think the Metropolitan Transportation Authority would want commuters to be able to access schedule information from a variety of sources. One would be wrong.

One year ago, an acquaintance of model Liskula Cohen created a blog whose sole purpose appeared to be insulting her. The entries also had photos of her in provocative poses. Those photos, combined with the captions, spurred New York County Judge Joan Madden to conclude that the "thrust of the blog is that [Cohen] is a promiscuous women." Therefore, Madden ruled, Cohen is entitled to sue the blogger for defamation. But Cohen first needed to know the blogger's name, so Madden ordered Google (which hosted the now-defunct blog) to reveal all identifying information.

When Amazon remotely removed George Orwell's "1984" and "Big Brother" from people's Kindles, it wasn't the first time content was digitally purged. And it won't be the last.

Flowbee, a company that manufacturers home haircutting systems, has become the latest disgruntled marketer to sue Google for trademark infringement in AdWords.